Scientists are preparing to redefine the Kilogram.

[Pressure]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/scie...6cca409c180_story.html?utm_term=.28a868b2439f

Jon Pratt this week at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
By Sarah Kaplan November 15 at 7:27 PM


Humanity is on the verge of a weighty achievement. On Friday, representatives of more than 60 nations will convene in Versailles, France, to approve a new definition for the kilogram.

Since the 19th century, scientists have based their definition of the fundamental unit of mass on a physical object — a shining platinum iridium cylinder stored in a locked vault in the bowels of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France. A kilogram was equal to the heft of this aging hunk of metal, and the cylinder, by definition, weighed exactly a kilogram. If the cylinder changed, even a little bit, then the entire global system of measurement had to change, too.

With Friday’s vote, scientists will redefine the kilogram for the 21st century by tying it to a fundamental feature of the universe — a small, strange figure from quantum physics known as Planck’s constant, which describes the smallest possible unit of energy.

[Thanks to Albert Einstein’s revelation that energy and mass are related, determining exactly how much energy is in that unit can let scientists define mass in terms of Planck’s constant — a value that should hold up across space and time — rather than relying on an inconstant metal cylinder. (Mass determines something’s weight, and for most purposes mass and weight are interchangeable.)

The redefinition is the result of a decades-long, worldwide quest to measure Planck’s constant precisely enough that the number would stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Though the newly defined kilogram won’t affect your bathroom scale, it will have practical applications in research and industries that depend on meticulous measureent.

Friday’s vote is mostly a formality; everyone involved says the resolution will pass. But to Jon Pratt, one of the leaders of that global effort, the event is about more than symbolism, bigger than business and beyond even physics.

In this era of violence and vitriol, when it seems there’s so little on which people can agree, Pratt said, the redefinition represents something sublime.

It is an acknowledgment of an immutable truth — that nature has laws to which all of us are subject. And it’s one more step toward a lofty dream — that, in understanding nature’s laws, scientists can help build a better world.

The scientist grinned, sheepish. “It’s an emotional moment,” he said. “I’m just really proud of our species.”

Leaving behind 'Le Grand K'
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md., where Pratt works, measurement is often described as the “invisible infrastructure” of the modern world. Everything a person does — whether it’s checking a clock, forecasting the weather, cooking a meal, building a rocket, signing a contract, waging a war — requires measurements of some kind.


The International System of Units, or SI, is what allows us to communicate measurements around the globe. This system, which has its origins in the heady days of the Enlightenment, was meant to end the bickering over the number of Spanish vara in a British furlong and ease the anxieties of a merchant who bought goods in the Netherlands, where the unit of weight was based on the amount of fish that could fit in a ship’s hold, and sold them in France, where weight was tied to the heft of a wheat grain.

The motto of one of the system’s creators, “for all times and for all people,” is among Pratt’s favorite phrases.

“It’s such an optimistic view,” Pratt said. “He just imagined this business of science . . . was going to be a great force for freedom and a great force for moving the world forward.”

Read the rest at the link

 

[Self_Born7]

fugg that... i was just singing and playing this old Ghost shyt

 

[Secure Da Bag]

I thought they were defining the kilogram based on the silicone sphere.





The video of what the OP is talking about.

 

[hashmander]

"Though the newly defined kilogram won’t affect your bathroom scale, it will have practical applications in research and industries that depend on meticulous measureent."

thank god, for a second i thought this was going to increase the costs of doing business in the cocaine sector.

 

[GPBear]

Yeah they’ve been talking about this for a while

The way humanity measures shyt is so weird

Atomic clock somewhere underground determines everyone else’s location in time
Random metal cylinder determines the weight of Europe

 

[hashmander]

Yeah they’ve been talking about this for a while

The way humanity measures shyt is so weird

Atomic clock somewhere underground determines everyone else’s location in time
Random metal cylinder determines the weight of Europe

these things need a reference point or else they're just words.

 

[GPBear]

these things need a reference point or else they're just words.

It's all just words anyways breh. There ain't no transcendental signified.
But it's too late at night to get into a discussion of Wittgenstein language games/Derridean deconstructionism

But yeah. It's just the points of reference are so trivial.

 

[hashmander]

It's all just words anyways breh. There ain't no transcendental signified.
But it's too late at night to get into a discussion of Wittgenstein language games/Derridean deconstructionism

But yeah. It's just the points of reference are so trivial.

ok i should have said just words with no meaning. the reference point gives it meaning.

 

[Pressure]

"Though the newly defined kilogram won’t affect your bathroom scale, it will have practical applications in research and industries that depend on meticulous measureent."

thank god, for a second i thought this was going to increase the costs of doing business in the cocaine sector.

New rap lyrics coming soon.

 

[88m3]

saw a program about the og kilo in France one time, was honestly fascinating and the implications of this change I imagine are going to be wild